Transient Boy
by Shihnia
Summary: Sakuno is left home alone on her birthday. She hears noises, what or who could it be? RyoSaku. AR.
1. Prologue - Wish upon a Shooting Star

Transient Boy

By: Shihnia

Rating: K

Genre: Friendship

Summary: Sakuno is left home alone on her birthday. She hears noises, what or who could it be? RyoSaku. AR.

A/N: Please note that this story is set in an AR where the characters are younger than they are in the original Prince of Tennis story. Also, this is my first story I have ever started writing so please make some nice reviews for a beginner writer.

Prologue – Wish upon a Shooting Star

It was cold. Much colder than that of any other days of January. It was January 14th; Sakuno's birthday. All she wanted was a cute little puppy for her birthday despite being too young to own a pet, but instead she was left alone for the day. It was as if everyone forgot about her birthday and ended up planning to do other things for the day. Her Birthday was as depressing for her as if she wouldn't have had anything to do for a day. Actually that's what her birthday this year was. Her grandmother wasn't around because she was coaching her tennis players at Seishun Gakuen. Sakuno's parents were never around either…she didn't have any siblings to play with so she was alone for the day. Not even a balloon was in place today, let alone a cake. She just laid on her couch the whole day watching cartoons that she had already had time to watch over her Winter Break. By the time she had gotten bored of watching those stale cartoons on TV, she was fascinated by the night sky. Guess what she saw? A shooting star. What a sight for a young girl of six years. Her pure mind was dazzled by how beautiful it was, its swiftness through the sky, the sparkles it left behind, heck even the shape of it. She didn't know the tale of "If you wish upon a star, your wish will come true." It was like the gods had wished her a happy birthday from above instead of the people on this earth. The shooting star was like her birthday candles, a substitute wish catcher. Not knowing of the tale, she made a wish:

"Please bring me a friend that'll be with me forever."


	2. Chapter 1 - Creature of the Night

A/N: Hi you guys, I hope you liked the prologue, I had to think a lot about how to catch people's attention in it, so please continue reading!

* * *

Chapter 1 – Creature of the Night

Sakuno was just about to turn off the lights downstairs and go upstairs to her room to get ready for bed, but suddenly, she heard the sound of sitting hitting her patio door. She rushed downstairs to the patio door and when she got there, nothing but a smudge was there.

"Grandma's going to be mad at me if she sees this smudge!"

Sakuno hurried to get a rag to wipe it off from the kitchen. Suddenly,

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

It was as if someone was knocking on the door. Sakuno went to check, completely forgetting about the smudge on the patio door.

"Hello?" Sakuno said nervously as she opened the door.

"Wait! Grandma said not to open the door when I'm she's not here!" She slammed it shut.

Too bad she wasn't tall enough to be able to see through the peephole that was way above her height, being only 3 foot 7.5.

Her back was to the door. She was so curious to who was at the door. Her curiosity didn't spite her to open the door, but instead she heard another weird noise, this time coming from the basement. Who was it that was making such a fool out of her?

She grabbed her teddy bear for protection and went down to the basement. The basement was bare, it didn't even have any furniture yet. Sakuno's grandmother never even bothered to clean this place. There was dust everywhere, spider webs up on the ceiling, the lights didn't work very well, but well enough for the room to be in low light, and a couple bugs here and there. That was the very reason why Sakuno never went down here unless her grandmother made her. Her grandmother kept very old family albums and old tennis equipment down there just for safe keeping. Sakuno didn't know much about tennis despite her grandmother telling her lots of things about it.

"H-Hello?" Sakuno said with her teddy bear covering all of her face except for her right eye.

Footsteps. She heard footsteps. From behind, from above, from left or right? Everywhere she looked for where they were coming from. There was only one place she didn't consider: beneath her.

"Kyaa!"

She saw a hand. A hand right by her ankle. As she looked beyond that, she saw a figure. At first, she thought it was a cute little puppy that was wanted for her birthday, but instead she saw a boy. A boy of the same age as her with black-green tinted hair with hazel eyes shaped like a cat. His eyes were looking up at her that seemed to be expecting something. Taking her attention off of the boy, she glanced at where his hand was. She was about to trip over a tennis ball. Was this boy trying to save her or scare her? Sakuno became inquired about the boy.

"Umm…who are you?" Sakuno asked, still in shock of the boy in front of her.

Silence.

"What's your name?" Sakuno asked again hoping to get an answer out of him this time.

Silence.

She couldn't figure out what to do with this boy. Should she just leave him down here and wait for him to approach her, or should she continue trying to ask him questions?

The boy got up from his feet, took the tennis ball from the ground and headed towards the stairs.

"Umm…where are you going?"

"I want some Ponta."

Those were his first words to her. "I want some Ponta." What way to introduce himself to her! Well she knew one thing, this boy liked Ponta.

She hurried up the stairs after him.

"Where's your fridge?" He said hastily.

"It's just around the corner…"

This was awkward. A boy just "saved" her from tripping over his tennis ball and just started going around her home asking where her fridge was. She still had yet to ask him a million questions of what is he doing here, why he is here, and how he got here.

Sakuno became aware of her surroundings again and watched the boy carefully, trying not to make weird faces at him.

He finally found the fridge and grabbed himself some Ponta. It was the last one too. Who knows what would happen if there wasn't anymore. Offer him something else to drink?

"Hey."

"Y-yes?" She still hadn't gotten over the fact he was here.

"Your hair is too long."

What? That's all he had to say? After barging around her house, that's all he had to say?

"No it's not! My grandma said it's not long at all, and I don't even trip over it—"

He threw the tennis ball she almost tripped over at her and half-heartedly waved good bye, leaving through the patio door.

"He almost hit me in the face with this!"

She looked at the tennis ball, and it had something written on it.

"You've got somebody to hang around now, be happy. – Ryoma."


	3. Chapter 2 - Mysterious Boy Number Two

Chapter 2 - Mysterious Boy Number Two

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It was eight in the morning. Sakuno was sound asleep in her bed, dreaming about that boy that had "invaded" her home last night. She sure was excited to see him again. Wondering if he was actually going to keep his word after he said:

"You have someone to hang around now, be happy."

He was unclear about what he really meant by that. Did he mean that he was just going to be her friend for one night, come back every day to play with her, or was he just saying that? No matter the case, Sakuno would be welcoming him to her house again.

By the time Sakuno got up to go brush her teeth her grandmother had already made her breakfast. For breakfast today it was a traditional Japanese breakfast: miso soup, and a tamagoyaki. The tamagoyakis that Sakuno's grandmother made were always good, she always added a mix of shrimp puree, grated mountain yam, with some sake and more than enough egg, making the tamagoyaki into really soft custard-like cake.

Sakuno quickly ate her breakfast, not caring for the taste because she was too excited for Ryoma to come by. She literary stood in front of the patio door waiting for him until she got bored and decided to eat her afternoon snack at three in the afternoon while watching some TV sitting under the kotatsu. For today's afternoon snack, she decided to eat some chocolate pocky. Eventually, she got bored and started drawing a little doodle of Ryoma and his tennis ball, which was right next to her. She drew it with some crayons that she usually used at school. Using only a black, green, flesh, light green, and light brown crayon, she thought she was finished. Once she finished, she went to get a glass of orange juice. Once she came back to the kotatsu, she noticed an orange on top of the kotatsu that wasn't there before. Seriously, if this is Ryoma's way of showing that he was here, he needed to work on it.

Suddenly, a voice behind her said:

"Hi there cutie."

Sakuno quickly turned around and saw face, a face that looked exactly like Ryoma's. She couldn't exactly tell if it was really Ryoma or not, but he definitely looked older, he looked like a ten year old. Away from reality, she just noticed that his face was very close to her, almost in kissing range. Sakuno flushed red. She pushed him out of the way while she ran back to the kitchen. Back towards the corner of the kitchen, she was on top of the counter. The first thing she said to the older boy was:

"Umm, are you Ryoma-kun?"

The boy looked at her then started laughing, what was so funny?

"Oh, you know Chibisuke? Nope, I'm not him."

He pointed his thumb to his chest.

"My name is Ryoga Echizen, nice to meet you cutie."

Sakuno looked at the boy as if he was an adult. Judging by how he talked, he seemed like he was already interested in women, despite being a kid.

"Eh?"

Sakuno heard the sound of the refridgerator opening. Knowing that her grandmother was upstairs taking nap, she automatically thought of Ryoma.

She turned around and for real, it was him. He was as casual as usual as if this was his own home, taking out some ponta.

"Ryoooomaa-kuun, is that your big brother?"

Of all the things she could of said to him, she started questioning him on if Ryoga was his older brother or not, even though it was pretty obvious.

"Mada Mada Dane." Ryoma said.

"Of course he's my "Big" brother." Somewhat annoyed.

Sakuno hadn't taken note of his expression when he said that, instead she was cheerful and decided to change the subject to her drawing of Ryoma.

"Looky here Ryoma-kun. Is it good?"

She showed him the drawing of him and was excited to see what he would say about it. Was it good, was it bad, was is cute, or did it offend him?

Ryoma looked at the drawing intently.

"Isn't it kind of hard to draw someone you've only seen once good?"

He was sort of unclear of what he meant by that. He was complimenting her in a way, if it's that hard to draw him just after seeing him once, then it was good. He wasn't being totally honest anyway.

Sakuno started tugging on Ryoma's sleeve and looked intently at Ryoga. She must of wanted to talk about something private, especially since Ryoga was there looking at the picture too.

"Ryoma-kun, Ryoma-kun. Why is he here?" Whispering and pointing her eyes at Ryoga.

"How should I know? He just decided to tag along." Ryoma said in normal voice volume. He didn't really see the reason to talk quietly.

Ryoga didn't seem to hear much of the conversation. He was just like Ryoma, instead of Ponta he went to the fridge to get some orange juice instead but he was just as casual as Ryoma was.

Yawn.

Wait, a yawn?

The three of them heard footsteps coming down from the stairs. Oh no, it must've been Sakuno's grandmother.

"Sakuno, why do you keep opening the fridge? Are you that hungry for snack time?"

Sakuno was literally panicing around on what to do with those twins, hide them, let her grandmother find out about them or what?

Her grandmother stopped coming down the stairs about halfway, Sakuno had official been teased. Her grandmother didn't mean to tease her at all though.

"I-I was just really thirsty grandma!" Her stuttering didn't make it really convincing that she was just really thirsty.

"Hm, okay. Just tell me if you need help grabbing something in the fridge, I won't want you spilling anything or dropping something by accident."

Sakuno's grandmother went back upstairs to continue her napping. By the time she was upstairs in her bed, Sakuno was looking around where the two boys were.

"Ryoma-kun? Ryoga-kun?"

Maybe her grandmother had scared them off, they didn't seem like the types to be scared of getting in trouble.

The boys were "hiding" in the kitchen. Ryoga was on top of the fridge, by climbing up on the counter and getting on top of the fridge. Ryoma was just on the counter trying to get up to the top of the fridge, but he seemed like he couldn't.

"Mada Mada Daze, Chibisuke."

Ryoma seemed to be angered by that comment, what was all this mada mada dane or daze nonsense, catch phrase?

Ryoma made that expression on that face of when a person would say "Mou.." but apparently, he was too cool to even say such things.

"Ryoma-ku-"

"See ya." Ryoma went out of the patio door again, disappearing into the greenery of the garden.

Sakuno was left with Ryoga, what is she going to do with this bigger version of Ryoma?

* * *

A/N: Hi guys, it wasn't such a long wait for this chapter was it? Maybe four days. I wrote half of this when I was off on my fishing trip, during the time when we were resting for the afternoon and my parents were asleep, haha. It seems longer than the first chapter, and definately longer than the prologue so please enjoy it. I'll try to keep writing longer stuff for the next chapters. Follow/Fave/Review please. :)


	4. Chapter 3 - A Night under Trouble

Chapter 3 – A Night under Trouble

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It was obvious that Ryoma couldn't stand being defeated, especially by his "older brother." He left so suddenly and leaving Ryoga with Sakuno.

Ryoga was sitting on the couch eating his orange that Sakuno first saw when the two boys made their entrance. He didn't seem like he was worried about Ryoma at all. That's to be expected if their relationship is a brother rivalry. Sakuno started a small conversation.

"Is Ryoma-kun coming back?" Sakuno said hesitantly, to the point of getting depressed.

"He's usually stubborn enough to come back to do a rematch with me in tennis."

Ryoga seemed uninterested. If he was that uninterested about Ryoma coming back for rematches, they must've done lots of them in the past.

Sakuno was happy again, but more excited than ever because she had never seen Ryoma play real tennis before and of course the fact that he was hopefully going to come back sooner or later.

She went out into the garden that the boy disappeared into and looked outside of the bushes, looking to see if he was coming back. Wasn't there yet.

Ryoga came over and put his hands on Sakuno's shoulders. He is just like Nanjirou after all, a shameless flirt. Good thing they're around the same age so it's not considered being a pedophile.

Sakuno didn't seem to mind, heck she didn't even realize he was there because of her obsession with Ryoma at the time.

"Oi! Chibisuke! Your girl wants you to come back, hurry up over here or you won't get a rematch!"

Ryoga seemed like he cared more about Sakuno than Ryoma, if that were the case he's a horrible person.

Sure enough, Ryoma turned up on the sidewalk with a Ponta in this hand and his Fila cap and turned towards the side.

Sakuno went running to Ryoma and said:

"Welcome back!" As cheerful as she could.

Ryoma nodded, being his only response. Ryoga came over and took his cap and placed it on his head, then he game the little boy a noogie.

"Haha, little man I'm so proud of you! You already got a little wife on you!"

"Stop it." Ryoma said as he loosened his brother's grip and slid out of his arms.

"Rematch." Suddenly all serious.

Sakuno was left out of the conversation now, Ryoma was being really tense towards Ryoga and Ryoga was just there with a smirk on his face.

"Let's go to the park then, Chibisuke. Is your wife coming along too?"

Ryoma looked at Sakuno with those tense eyes of his. He gave her a stare that meant that he wanted her to come watch him. Ryoma is already wanting to impress her huh.

"Yep." Ryoma said without getting any confirmation from Sakuno, not that she would say no anyway.

Ryoma tugged on her hand a bit and held it while the three of them walked to the park. Sakuno was happily smiling on the whole way there.

There wasn't anyone at the tennis courts today, which was perfect because Ryoma didn't exactly like crowds hoarding behind the fences, he wouldn't mind Sakuno being there though.

Ryoga and Ryoma were setting up their tennis rackets and deciding which one of them would serve first. It turned out that Ryoma would be the one to serve first.

Ryoma was just about to serve when Sakuno said:

"Good luck Ryoma-kun!" With a smile on her face.

Ryoma simply gave a nod of appreciation and continued his serve. Ryoma still didn't know how to do the twist serve so it was just a normal serve anybody could do. Ryoga returned it easily. They had been rallying like that for quite a while when Ryoga finally broke it, he got a point off of Ryoma.

Ryoma was on his knees due to the amount of running around he did while they were rallying. Then he slid the bill of his Fila cap to the side of his head and said:

"Mada Mada Dane!"

This match seemed more like a practice match than anything else because Ryoga seemed like he was going easy on little Ryoma.

Suddenly, Ryoga did a twist serve. It was expected that it would land right in front of Ryoma and hit him in the face, but no, instead it landed halfway across the court from him.

"See that Chibisuke? You're going to learn how to do that."

Sakuno was impressed with Ryoga, she had never played or watching tennis before but that was really something in her eyes.

They started rallying on and on until Ryoma lost another point to Ryoga. Ryoma started to serve again very quickly but Ryoga reminded him that it was already match point, the score being five games to three with forty-fifteen. Ryoma was about to lose, if they kept rallying.

Ryoma got a point, another point, and another point. Now they were at deuce. Two more points to avoid Ryoga from winning this game. Ryoga seemed like he was purposely giving Ryoma the points so that they could play longer.

"Are you playing seriously brother?" Ryoma immediately sensed that Ryoga wasn't playing at his full potential since the beginning.

"Play seriously!"

"Mhm, if you say so Chibisuke."

Ryoga did play seriously for the rest of the game, to the point that Ryoma couldn't get any more points. After the game ended, Sakuno went running up to Ryoma like she had when she was looking for him to come back to her house for a rematch.

"Ryoma-kun, that looked like so much fun! I want to play too!" Sakuno said with some giggles added at the end.

Ryoma grabbed her hand again and walked towards the vending machine to get themselves refreshed from all that playing and watching. Ryoma indefinitely got Ponta, sharing some with Sakuno. At their young age, they probably didn't know much about indirect kissing so they shared sips of the Ponta.

Ryoga was done packing their tennis equipment and headed towards the vending machine too. He grabbed the Ponta can that the two of them had been drinking and tried to take a sip.

Drip. Drip.

It was already empty.

Maybe Ryoma had known a thing or two about indirect kissing, they finished up the can quickly before Ryoga came to bother them.

Ryoga sighed and bought himself some orange juice instead.

"Chibisuke, I'm going home now. Make sure to walk your wife home."

Ryoma gave him a little growl.

"She's not my wife."

"Ha-ha if you say so."

Ryoga walked off the opposite direction of the tennis court, leaving the two of them alone together. At this point, they were laying on the grass underneath a big tree, rather than sitting on a bench. Ryoma had his arms behind his head, making it look as if he were sleeping. Sakuno was still sitting up on the grass and looked at Ryoma. He looked really peaceful, sleeping or not. Sakuno cuddled up to his side a little bit without really touching him, and fell asleep. It was such perfect weather for sleeping under a tree.

It turned out that Ryoma wasn't really sleeping, just shutting off his eyes and laying on the grass. He didn't noticed until now that Sakuno was laying right next to him sleeping. He didn't try to wake her up though, regardless of it being dinner time which was around six o'clock. Sakuno's stomach was growling, growling hard enough that it did wake her up about five minutes later. Ryoma was still there waiting for her to wake up, laying on the grass with his eyes open.

"Nnnh, Ryoma-kun is it dinner time?" Sleepily talking to him.

"It has been, I'm hungry." He seemed a bit annoyed and impatient about it.

Sakuno tried getting up but she felt a sharp pain in her stomach, a stomach ache.

"Owwie. Ryoma-kun, my tummy hurts."

It was to be expected, she didn't go to the bathroom after eating her snack or anytime during the time they were out. While Ryoma did take a bathroom break while Sakuno was dozing off.

"Can you walk?" Ryoma asked.

Sakuno shook her head.

Ryoma had very little choice, he couldn't get someone to help her get home at this point in time. They was only one option after all, piggyback ride. Hopefully Ryoma was strong enough for the job.

Ryoma bent down one of his knees on the ground and motioned his hands to get on his back. Sakuno didn't really know what that meant.

"Eh?"

"Get on my back." No emotion about it at all.

"A piggyback ride? Yay!" Sakuno seemed happy enough about it.

Sakuno got on Ryoma's back hastily, making it hard for him to adjust to the weight that was now on this back. At first, Ryoma had a hard time standing up, but he got the hang of it once he walked a yard or so. Of course Sakuno's house wasn't all that far away from the park, so Sakuno had to enjoy it while it lasted. She was dozing off again while he was walking due to the nice cool breeze that was in the air. Ryoma was starting to doze off a bit too, he could doze off and sleep once they got to Sakuno's house.

They finally got to Sakuno's house and they entered through the patio door, like Ryoma would always do. He set her down on the couch and sat next to her. They dozed off together, Sakuno's head on Ryoma's shoulder. He put his head on her head and they slept for a bit until a shadow was over their heads.

Uh-oh.

* * *

There's another chapter put out in the open. :) This one was a bit longer than the other two right?

*Checks # of words in the other chapters*

Okay, about 400 words difference haha. I'm sorry there wasn't anything too exciting about this chapter. The next couple chapters **might** be interesting though. ^^" Keep up the reviews, if you'd please. :)

-Shihnia


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